Improperly towing a vehicle can cause damage to a variety of vehicle components including those that transmit power from the engine to the wheels, such as components in the driveline. This is particularly true with all wheel drive (AWD) systems, however, vehicles having four wheel drive (4WD) systems, front wheel drive (FWD) systems, and rear wheel drive (RWD) systems can also be damaged from improper towing conditions.
As an example, if a tow truck engages a vehicle having an AWD system in a two-wheel tow (i.e., a towing technique where two of the vehicle's wheels are elevated and not rotating, while the other two are on the road surface and are rotating according to the speed of the tow vehicle; see FIG. 1), a clutch or other mechanism in the AWD system can overheat and become damaged. As is appreciated by those skilled in the art, this damage may be caused by a speed differential that exists across friction and reaction plates of the clutch, for example. Depending on the severity and nature of the damage, the clutch can experience undesirable changes to the friction coefficients of certain parts and/or physical deformation of the parts. Of course, these are only some of the possibilities, as other undesirable results can also occur from improper towing.